PERMANENT RESIDENT APPLICATIONS FROM WITHIN CANADA ON HUMANITARIAN AND
COMPASSIONATE GROUNDS

Although not a legal requirement, a close relative in Canada may support your
application by submitting a sponsorship. Sponsors must be Canadian citizens or
permanent residents, aged 18 or over, living in Canada.

If
you are a person described in the Family Class below and your application is
based on family reunification, having a sponsor may be a major factor in the
approval or refusal of your case. However, a sponsorship is only one factor in
making a decision on whether or not there are sufficient humanitarian or
compassionate reasons to process your application from within Canada. The
Family Class includes:

•
the sponsor’s father, mother, grandfather or grandmother;

•
the sponsor’s brother, sister, nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter, who
is an orphan, under age 22 and who does not have a spouse or common-law
partner;

•
any child under 22 who the sponsor intends to adopt and who is orphaned or
abandoned and whose parents cannot be identified or a child who has been
placed with a child welfare authority for adoption; or

•
any other relative of the sponsor if the sponsor does not have a spouse or
common-law partner, son, daughter, mother, father, brother, sister,
grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew who is a Canadian citizen or
permanent resident, and no other family class relatives whom he or she could
sponsor.

•
the sponsor’s dependent children, including adopted children. Dependent
children must meet the criteria in the chart below.

Dependent children

You
must include all dependent children from your current and previous
relationships, whether they are in Canada or not, in this application. To be
considered dependent, the child must meet the criteria listed in column D

and any one of columns A, B or C below.

A

B

C

D

Be under the age of 22 and not
a spouse or common-law partner

Depend substantially on the
financial support of a parent and been continuously enrolled and in
attendance as full-time students in a government-accredited post secondary
institution since before the age of 22 (or since becoming a spouse or a
common-law partner, if this happened before the age of 22)

Depend substantially on the
financial support of a parents since before the age of 22 and unable to
provide for themselves due to a medical condition.

Meet the definition of
"dependent children" both at the time the application is made and at the
time the visa is issued. However, children in column A can be older than
22 when the visa is issued, as long as they were under 22 at the time of
application.

Note:

Child custody
disputes must be resolved before you submit your application

Your
sponsor’s financial responsibilities

Your
sponsor must sign a contract, called an undertaking,
promising to provide financial support for you and your
family members’ basic requirements, if you are unable to do so. Basic
requirements are food, clothing, shelter and goods and services required
for the activities of everyday life. Dental care, eye care and other health
care not covered by public health services are also included.

The
undertaking ensures that you and your family members will not need to apply
for social assistance or welfare. Your sponsor must prove that he or she has
enough income to fulfil the sponsorship obligation. It starts on the day you
become a permanent resident and is valid for:

•
Three years (period varies in Quebec) if you are being sponsored by your
spouse or common-law partner

•
Three years for dependent children over age 22

•
Ten years for dependent children under 22, or until the child reaches 25
years of age, whichever comes first

•
Ten years for all other cases

How
does my relative become a sponsor?

If
you have a relative who wants to sponsor you, he or she must complete a
sponsorship application. The sponsorship application must be submitted with
your application for permanent residence. Before ordering a sponsorship
application guide, your sponsor must read

Appendix D.

Appendix D:

To
sponsor relatives who want to stay in Canada permanently on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds:

•
your relatives must be members of the Family Class;

•
you must be 18 years of age or older and a Canadian citizen or permanent
resident who is currently living in Canada;

•
you must sign a contract promising to provide financial support for your
relatives, if they cannot support themselves, for up to ten years. This
contract ensures that your relatives will not need social assistance or
welfare; and,

•
you must prove that you can meet the financial obligations of a sponsorship.

You
may

not sponsor if:

•
relatives you sponsored in the past have received social assistance or
welfare during the validity period of the sponsorship;

•
you have not made a required payment on an immigration loan;

•
you are in prison; or,

•
you are bankrupt.

This
is only a summary of requirements. See the sponsorship application guide for
details.